Issue: "Fight against tax evasion in Germany" 
This was one of the most essential issues relating to the tax affair, which was a constant theme 
throughout the media reporting. 
First of all, there was an obvious interest in Germany — for whatever reasons (see also Chapter 
6.9) — to keep the interest focused on Liechtenstein to the extent possible, with at times hard- 
line rhetoric. Initially, Liechtenstein was referred to as a "den of thieves", a "modern form of 
robber barons" or even a "rogue State". This offered a breeding ground for proposals to 
increase the penalties for tax evasion from 10 to 15 years. But not everyone agreed to this 
attitude and approach. A comment in a letter to the editor in SPIEGEL 9/2008 represents 
many voices from Germany that were also expressed in e-mails to the Liechtenstein 
Government: "The call by our politicians for higher penalties for tax evaders is embarrassing 
and demeaning. The incitement to public persecution, the parading of individuals — solely 
with a view to getting more votes — is indecent and disgusting, since the politicians 
themselves are up to their elbows in the pie. Germany as a business location itself is 
threatened by the tax legislation." 
Some interest groups took the tax affair as an occasion to treat the symptoms within Germany 
and to get a grip on the problem of tax evasion. The German Confederation of Trade Unions 
and politicians demanded more staff for the tax authorities: "We need more tax investigators 
and corporate auditors, and we need better coordination between the states and the Federal 
Government." (Michael Meister, Deputy Chairman of the CDU/CSU parliamentary group, 
Handelsblatt, 19.2., 2) or "First of all, we need better resources for tax investigators at the 
federal level and strengthening of the special prosecutors." (Reinhard Bütikofer, head of the 
Green party, FTD, 19.2., 26). The headline of the Tagesspiegel on 20.2.2008 (p. 4) read: "The 
prosecution pressure must increase." 
In any event, the tax affair was an occasion for conducting a controversial discussion in 
Germany about possible simplifications of the tax system. While Federal Minister of Finance 
Steinbrück (SPD) categorically rejected this suggestion, Bavarian Minister of Finance Huber 
(CSU) and FDP tax expert Solms, along others, demanded radical simplifications of the 
German tax system (dpa, 24.2.2008). In the case of tax evasion by Klaus Zumwinkel, the goal 
was apparently to achieve an effect on other tax evaders, even though certain claims had to be 
taken back rather quickly: At eight o'clock in the morning, the news spoke of tens of millions 
in taxes that allegedly had been evaded. By five o'clock in the afternoon, that sum had been 
reduced to a million euros. This is certainly still a lot of money, but not enough for a "public 
execution in the media". What happened to the presumption of innocence? The uneasy feeling 
persists that the nationally renowned Klaus Zumwinkel was being used as a public deterrent. 
The search of Zumwinkel's home was nothing other than a modern media pillory, which even 
the otherwise serious FTD published on 25.2.2008 (p. 26): "Eventually, the tax investigators 
catch everyone." 
Issue: " Tax competition vs. tax harmonization" 
The topic of tax evasion in Germany in a broader sense, with a view to the degree of tax 
honesty in Germany and other European countries, was initially at the surface and primarily 
an issue in the mass media. But in fact, an entirely different, larger and global issue was 
hidden behind it, namely tax competition vs. tax harmonization. For example, Euro am 
Sonntag (2.3.2008, 22) wrote under the headline "Engaged in global competition": "Tax flight 
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